Hey, maybe this has been asked before, but I do intermittent fasting, 16/8, I stop eating after 9PM and eat again at 12PM.
I am used to taking Mag-10 at 7AM after waking up but I am wondering if it actually removes some of the benefits of intermittent fasting since it contains carbs and fast proteins.
Energy levels are high throughout the morning but that could just be because my body is using stored glycogen, how could I confirm that my body is actually using fats for energy during that fasting time?
Thanks!
Just to clarify:
Is your goal to be 100% complaint with a particular IF protocol
Or
To lose fat and retain (maybe gain) muscle?
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Hi @strongmangoals, good point, I donāt care about the IF protocol itself, my goasl are first to lose fast, 2nd to gain some lean muscle mass.
If you donāt care about strictly adhering to a fast (water and non-caloric drinks only) then this article might be of interest:
This is mostly in the context of not getting super fat on a mass-building diet but since youād be consuming way less calories than normal itāll still lead to fat loss, while still retaining your muscle due to the amino spikes.
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Somewhat of a technicality, but you are doing a 15/9 IFing schedule if you eat from noon to 9PM.
As stated above, if you believe fasting will impart health/physique benefits by abstaining from calories during a given time window, then yes, having calories (be it from Mag-10, bananas, or a piece of chocolate) will break the fast. If you are just trying to remain calorie-controlled during that time window, then a defined amount of calories is fine.
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Hey @antiquity, great point, itās actually 8PM, 12AM, made a typo.
Interesting, I am looking for other peopleās experience to know if they were able to lose fat when using Mag-10 during the fasting window while intermittent fasting.
Of course you can lose fat, completely regardless of whether you consume Mag-10 or really even of whether you are doing IF or not. You just have to be in a caloric deficit.
Anyway, looking at the research and empirical evidence, if you are looking to lose fat and care about your lean mass, IF might not be the very best way to go.
If I absolutely wanted to restrict my eating window (some people find it easier to control calories if they arenāt eating altogether for some hours; I donāt), Iād still make sure to get about 20 g of protein once every about 3-5 hours (which has been shown in some studies to be the optimal meal frequency for protein synthesis), and if I felt like going hi-tech, Iād make sure that protein is some form of casein or whey+casein blend, which seems to give the best anti-catabolic effects.
That way Iād reap the benefits of not eating (less calories in) while also getting the benefits of consuming protein (muscle sparing effect with little to no impact on fat loss).
Simple answer is itās not an intermittent fast.
The question is whether a protein pulse upon rising would best suit your goals? I think there is a good argument that it would, especially if you have strength trained the evening before. Training triggers MPS and, while there is some debate how long this lasts, what cannot be disputed is that the effect diminishes the further away you are from the session. The pulse upon rising would help to augment this effect while, at the same time, it adds little energy to your daily calorie count. You can then āfastā for another period, e.g. 6 hours, and enjoy a similar amino acid spike at lunchtime. As has been stated by a few authors on this site, amino spiking appears to be more useful for hypertrophy purposes than the traditional constant supply (eat every 2-3 hours mantra) that broscience still espouses.
Actually, Iād argue that eating once every 3 hours (or, as I said in my post, up to every 5 hours) isnāt exactly āconstant supply.ā
Sure, I agree that thereās probably little point to eating every one to two hours, but as long as 3-5 hours pass between feedings, does it really matter if itās a āprotein pulseā or a solid, whole food meal?
Aragon and Schoenfeldās review basically concluded that four protein feedings per day was probably optimal. This probably tallies with your own beliefs.
However, much of the research they examined, which they acknowledged, was based on whey ingestion, which is not how most folks eat in the real world. Further, it does not take into account increased anabolic signalling resulting from fasting. That is why, for example, something like MAG10 (which I donāt endorse per se) pulsed can result in hyperaminoacidemia, which in turn can trigger protein synthesis and hypertrophy.
I was also reading a study where in a really hypocaloric diet those who were given protein pulses every few hours lost little lbm.
Thank you for all these answers.
So basically, what weāre saying is pulsing mag-10 means itās not intermittent fasting anymore since mag 10 contains calories, carbs and proteins.
But it should be little enough to not matter calorie wise and at the same time enough quality aminos to protect lbm?
Depends what you mean by matter. You still have to count those calories.
Short answer is, yes it breaks a fast. If you are looking for the health benefits of fasting, you will probably lose some. If you are just doing this for body composition, experiment and see what works. Many people, myself included, find it much easier to eat no calories than to eat a few. I have done many forms of fasting and the pulse type fasting was a 100% colossal failure for me. I have never been hungrier than when I was not eating and then pulsing amino acids or small amounts of protien.
Iām like that. I find eating a tiny amount of calories is so much harder than eating none.
Like you know the 5/2 diet people do, where they can eat like 400cals on their diet days? Iād much rather just eat nothing at all.
āWould you like some ice cream?ā
āThatād be great!ā
āHow many scoops do you want?ā
āJust bring the container overā
āWhy canāt you just have a bit so it lasts?ā
āWhat are we saving it for?ā
āSo we can have some another dayā
āDonāt toy with me woman!!!ā